Manifold form aligning device



Sept. 13', 1932. H. w. LEWIS 1,876,981

MANIFOLD FORM ALIGNING D'EVICE Filed July 1.6, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 f 3 INVENTORQ fla 4m [aw/3" BY 3 v 7 ATTORNE.

Sept. 13, 1932. H. w. LEWIS MANIFOLD FORM ALIGNING DEVIYGE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 16, 1930 73 K m 4" 8 0 u 3 u INVENTOR. fiw/a/vll lew/J B I 7 ATTORNEY.

Patented Sept. 13, 1932 HOWARD W. LEWIS, NUTLEY, NEW JERSEY MANIFOLD FORM ALIGlNING DEVICE The present invention relates, generally, to autographic registers adapted-for handling several sheets of paper simultaneously, the

said sheets being superimposed one upon another in longitudinal ali nment, and with carbon paper between a jacent sheets for making an original and copies of any desired data such as sales memoranda and the like. The invention relates, more particularly, to a novel form of autographic register or manifold form aligning device adapted forholding paper or forms in such manner that they may be drawn out by hand in superimposed sheets, and under suitable tension, so that they will lie smoothly over one another.

Another object of the present invention lies in the provision of a novel manifold form aligning device adapted to contain both forms or writing sheets-together with carbon paper for usebetween these sheets, the said device having novel snubbing means for maintaining the writing sheets under suitable tension as they are drawn from within the device for use.

' Still another object of the present invention is to provide a novel manifold form aligning device which is not only designed so as to allow free movement of the writing sheets or forms over the writing surface thereof in use, but which is also provided with easily engageable holding means or studs positioned substantially on a level with or below the writing surface of the deviceand adapted to cooperate with a novel tensioning means to thereby retain such sheets in aligned superimposed positions.

Application filed m 16, 1930. Serial 1100468349.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a novel manifold form aligning device having a. depository. or drawer for receiving used forms or sheets intended for future reference.

Other objects of this invention, not at this time more particularly enumerated, will be clearly understood from the following detailed description of the same. a

The invention is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of the novel manifold form aligning device of this invention and illustrates the position of the forms or sheets thereon in use;

Figure 2 is aside view of the structure of Figure 1 and illustrates the same in open position;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken along lines 3-3 in Figure 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken along lines l-4 in Figure 3, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary view illustrating a slightly modified form of construction;

Figure 6 is a vertical sectional view taken along lines 66 in Figure 5; and

Figure 7 is a perspective view of the form depository or drawer of the device.

Similar characters of reference are employed in all of the 'hereinabove described views, to indicate corresponding parts.

Referring now to said drawings, the reference character 1 designates the novel form aligning device of this invention as a whole. The device 1 comprises a substantially erect tangular casing having front and rear walls 2 and 3 respectively, side walls 4 and 5, a bottom 6 and a horizontal writing top cover 7. Top cover 7 is formed with a downwardly inclined portion 14 at the front of the device. A depending apron 15 isprovided atthe forward edge of inclined portionl l and carries a cutting edge 16 which lies substantially in the plane of the inclined portion. A pair of studs 17 extend outwardly substantially at right angles to the inclined portion 14 and have hooked ends 18 positioned at or below the level of the top cover. Studs 17 are adapt- 11 the sheets 20 extend forwardly over the top ed to cooperate with apertures 19 provided in forms or sheets 20 to hold the forms in proper position upon the cover 7.

The top cover 7 has depending flanges 8 and 9 at its sides which flanges are positioned adjacent and are adapted to overlie the upper portions of side walls 4 and 5 respectively. Flanges 8 and 9 extend rearwardly of the downwardly rolled rear edge 11 of cover 7 and are pivotally connected as by rivets 12 to the side walls 4 and 5. The rivets 12 thus provide a hinged connection between the cover 7 and the casing body consisting of the front and rear walls 2 and 3, the side walls 4 and 5 and the bottom 6. These several parts comprising the casing body are rigidly secured to one another in fixed relative positions and providea receptacle or reservoir for receiving the sheets or forms 20. Three such superimposed sheets 20 are shown in the drawings by way of example, but it will be understood that any number of these sheets may be used as desired.

A false bottom or horizontal partition 21 is provided within the body of the casing above the bottom 6. False bottom 21 is adapted to support the forms 20 within the casing. These forms are illustrated as arranged in a flat pack 22, but is to be understood that they may as well be contained in rolls or otherwise, if desired. In order to maintain the proper tensionupon the forms 20 as they are drawn in a continuous strip from the flat pack 22, transversely extending snubbing rollers 23 are provided in the forward portion of the casing body. Three such rollers 23 are shown in Figures 1 to 4 of the drawings and are provided with reduced end portions or trunnions 24 which project through and are guided by slots 25 provided in the side walls 4 and 5. Slots 25 are arranged obliquely with respect to the false bottom 21 and extend from the upper edges of the side walls downwardly and forwardly to a point above this false bottom 21.

Sheets 20, fed from flat pack 22 pass between the middle roller 23 and the lower roller 23 and then up and over the upper roller 23. From these rollers the sheets pass rearwardly within the casing body to the rear thereof where the sheets pass under a transversely extending tensioning roller 26. Tensioning roller 26 is preferably of larger diameter than rollers 23 and also has reduced end portions or trunnions 27 which project through and are. guided by slots 28 provided in the side walls 4 and 5. Slots 28 are arranged obliquely with respect to the false bottom 21 and extend from the upper edges of the side walls downwardly and rearwardly to a point above this false bottom.

From roller 26 the sheets 20 extend upwardly in front of rear Wall 3and over the rolled rear end 11 of the top cover. From the end cover and over the inclined portion 14 thereof, and are held at their forward ends by the studs 17. The snubbing action of rollers 23 together with the tensioning action of roller 26, as will further appear, serve to hold the sheets 20 taut at all times so that when these sheets engage studs 17, the tension of the sheets causes them to be held firmly against the upper surface of the top cover while maintained in superimposed alignment, thereby enabling easy writing upon the top sheets and the production of accurate and neat copies.

The carbon sheets 30 are preferably arranged in continuous sheet form, which sheets are illustrated as stored within the body of the casing in the form of a flat pack 31 that is supported by partition 21 and underlies the flat pack 22. From the fiat pack 31, the carbon sheets 30 extend upwardly along the inner side of wall 4 (see Figure 4), over the upper edge of this wall, then down between the outer side of the wall and flange 8, then up over the outer surface of flange 8 and then across the top of the cover 7 in interleaved engagement with the sheets 20. The carbon sheets in extending between the flange 8 and side wall 4 are firmly gripped by these members and hence are held rigidly at side wall 4 of the device. The free end portions of the carbon sheets 30 are gripped between a bar 32 and the outer surface of flange 9. Bar 32 is pivotally mounted at its rear end upon one of the rivets 12. The forward end of bar 32 is slotted at 33 for engaging the shank'of a headed pin 34 projecting outwardly from flange 9. Bar 32 is turned inwardly slightly and, by being supported at its ends by rivet 12 and the head of pin 34, acts to hold the carbon sheets 30 in gripping engagement with the flange 9 whereby these sheets are held taut across the top of cover 7 as desired. To release the carbon sheets 30, the bar 32 is turned upwardly about rivet 12 so as to disengage pin 34.

The lower portion of front wall 2 extending between false bottom 21 and the bottom 6 is cut away providing an aperture 35 for receiving a drawer 36. Drawer 36 is adapted to serve as a file for holding sheets 20 after they have been written upon and torn off as by use of cutting edge 16. Drawer 36 is preferably formed from sheet stock by bending up front and rear walls 37 and 38, respectively. Front wall 37 is formed with a tab or handle 39. It will be noted that, with drawer '36 inserted into the body of the casing, the front wall 37 extends upwardly for only a portion of the height of aperture 35, thereby enabling the upper portion of aperture 35 to serve as a slot into the drawer. It will be apparent that in some instances the drawer 36 maybe omitted,

in which case the false bottom 21 would also be omitted.

In use, the operator writes the data desired,

- most sheet or form 20 and the carbons 30 serve ward motion of the sheets 20, the desired ten- I sion is maintained in these sheets by the snubbing action of rollers 23 and by the action of 1 roller 26. The middle and upper rollers 23 act tobear against the sheets 20 passing over the lower roller and snub or grip these sheets somewhat against the periphery of the lower roller 23. The trunnions 24 of the lower roller 23 may have a snug fit in the slots 25 to thereby increase the frictional resistance of this roller upon the sheets 20 in some instances. By employing middle and upper rollers 23instead of a single roller, the arc of curvature of the sheets 20 in passing over these rollers is enlarged as especially shown in Figure 3, thereby causing the sheets 20 to move smoothly over these rollers without catching or stalling.

ers 23, but this is not generally deslrable, be-

cause of the tendency of the sheets 20 to stall when the folds of the Hat pack are passing over such single roller. Also, a single roller of large diameter may be used in lieu of the middle and upper rollers 23, thereby providing the desired large arc of curvature, but this is also undesirable usually, owing to the reduction of the useful storage space length within the casing caused by the presence of such a roller. The use of slots 25 enables rollers 23 to accommodate their several positions to the combined thickness of the sheets 20. By inclining slots 25-slightly with respect to the vertical as shown in the drawings, a smoother motion of the sheets 20 is obtained. In practice it is found that satisfactory operation is obtained if slots 25 are inclined at an angle of eighty degrees with base 6.

While the sheets 20 are being drawn for- 26 to roll upwardly within slots 28 as shown in Figure 3. When a new set of apertures 19 in sheets 20 arrive adjacent studs 17, these holes are caused to engage over the hooked ends 18 and the operator may then release the sheets, whereupon tensioning roller 26, acting under the influence of gravity, rolls back down slots 28, thereby causing apertures 19 to move rearwardly to engage the shanks of studs 17. Studs 17 now stop the rearward movement of the sheets, so that these sheets are thereafter tensioned between roller 26 and the studs in proper mutual alignment and ready for use. The used sheets arereadily torn off against the cutting edge 16 in the manner disclosed in my Patent No. 1,770,080. One or more of the used sheets 20 may be slipped through aperture 35 into drawer 36 for filing. The presence of hooked ends 18- on studs, l7 prevent the accidental release of sheets 20 from these studs, In practice it is found that roller 26 functions satisfactorily when slots- 28 make an angle of 66 degrees with base 6.

As the carbon sheets 30 become worn they arereplaced by releasing bar 32 and raising 'pulled across'the top cover. 1

If desired, instead of using either three or two rollers 23, a single roller may be used as shown in Figures 5 and 6. In these figures the. roller 23 snubs the sheets 20 directly against the front wall 2 of the casing.

It will be. apparent that the sheets 20 forming a continuous strip may be stored in any desired manner within the casing. Thus, instead of storing these sheets in flat pack form as illustrated, they may be stored in rolls as is well known to those skilled in the art and as illustrated in my before mentioned patent. Should the sheets have merely one hole or more than two holes 19, the device may be provided with a corresponding number of studs 17.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that a type writing unit maybe placed upon the top cover or platen 7 to type directly upon sheets 20, if desired. The use of carbon paper in continuous strip form eliminates the necessity of placing carbon paper between each set of sheets 20. i

It will be understood that slots 25 and 28 enable the ready adjustment or removal of the rollers 23 and 26 while the continuous strip of a new flat pack is being threaded over these rollers.

In the event that it is desired to use sheet carbon instead of carbon in a continuous strip, such sheets may be secured at their ends against the dependlng flanges 8 and 9 by mounting a bar 32 on each of these flanges.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

1. A form aligning device comprising, a casing having a writing top and a'body portion supporting said top, said body portion serving as a reservoir for writing sheets ara slot in each side Wall thereof, said continuous strip extending out of said body portion and being adapted to be pulled across said top, and opposed snubbing rollers mounted within said body portion and engaging opposite sides of said continuous strip to tension the same as it is pulled across said top in use, said snubbing rollers having extensions at their ends, the extensions at one end of said rollers being turnably mounted in one of said slots and the extensions at the other end of said rollers being turnably mounted in the other of said slots.

2. A form aligning device comprising, a casing having a writing top and a body portion supporting said top, said body portion serving as a reservoir for writing sheets arranged in continuous strip form and having inclined slots.in the side walls thereof, said continuous strip extending out of said body portion and being adapted to be pulled across said top, opposed snubbing rollers mounted within the forward portions of said body portion and engaging opposite sides of said continuous strip to tension the same as it is pulled across said top in use, said snubbing rollers having trunnions at the ends thereof turnably mounted in certain of said slots, means on said casing for engaging and holding the free end portionof said continuous strip, so that the same will lie across said top, and a tensioning roller contained within the rear portion of said casing and having trunnions at its ends turnably mounted in others of said slots, said tensioning roller engaging a side of said continuous strip to hold the same taut across said top.

3. A form aligning device comprising, a casing having a body portion open at the top and providing an interior reservoir for writing sheets arranged in continuous strip form, a top hingedly connected to said body portion for supporting said writing sheets in use, said top serving as a closure for said body portion, snubbing rollers contained within the forward part of said body portion and engaging opposite sides of said continuous strip as it is fed from said reservoir, and a tensioning roller positioned within the rear part of said body portion and engaging one side of said continuous strip to hold the same taut across said top.

4. A form aligning device comprising, a casing having a writing top and a bodv portion supporting said top, said body portion serving as a reservoir for writing sheets arranged in continuous strip form, said consaid top, said body portion having inclined tinuous strip extending out of said body portion and being adapted to be pulled across slots in the sides thereof adjacent the front of said body portion and the edges of said continuous strip, and opposed snubbing rollers having end portions mounted within said slots and engaging opposite sides of said continuous strip to tension the same as it is pulled across said top in use.

5. A form aligning device comprising, a casing having a writing top and a body portion supportlng said top, said body portion serving as a reservoir for Writing sheets arranged in continuous strip form, said continuous strip extending out of said body portion and over said writing top, said body portion having side walls provided with inclined slots adjacent the front and rear thereof, and tensioning and snubbing rollers positioned in said casing and having their ends mounted in said slots and engaging said continuous strip to tension the same across said writing top.

6. A form aligning device comprising, a casing having a writing top and a body portion supporting said top, said body portion having front and rear walls and side walls together with a bottom and serving as a reservoir for writing sheets arranged in continuous strip form, each side wall of said body portion having a downwardly and forwardly inclined slot at the forward end portion thereof and a downwardly and rearwardly inclined slot at the rear portion thereof, a snubbing roller contained within said body portion adjacent the rear surface of the body portion front wall and having end extensions mounted within the forward inclined slots of said walls, a tensioning roller contained within said body portion adjacent the rear Wall thereof, said tensioning roller having extensions mounted within the rear slots of said side walls.

7. A form aligning device comprising, a casing body having a bottom, side walls and end walls, said casing body being open at its top, a writing top hingedly connected to said ,casing body adjacent one end wall thereof and arranged to close the top thereof, said casing body serving as a reservoir for writ: ing sheets arranged in continuous strip form, each side wall of said casing body having guide slots extending downwardly from the upper edge thereof adjacent each of the ends of said casing body, rollers contained within said casing body, said rollers extending transversely of said casing body and having their end portions slidably mounted in said guide slots, whereby said rollers are adapted to move up and down within said casing body in use. i

8. A manifolding device comprising, a casing body having a bottom, side walls and end Walls, said casing body being open at its top, a writing top for covering said casing body, said casing body serving as a reservoir for writing sheets arranged in continuous strip form, each side wall of said casing body having guides therein, rollers contained within said casing 'body, said rollers extending transversely of said casing body and having their end portions mounted in said guides,

one of saidrollers serving to bear against one side of the continuous writing sheet for snubbing the same and another ofsaid rollers engaging the otherside of said continuous writing sheet and being movable substantially transversely of the plane of the writing sheet for tensioning the same. 1

9. A manifolding device comprising, a cas ing body having a bottom, side walls and end walls, said casing body being open at its top, a writing top for covering said casing body, said casing body serving as a reservoir for writing sheets arranged in continuous strip form, each side wall of said casing body having guides therein, rollers contained within said casing body, said rollers extending transversely of said casing body and having their end portions mounted in said guides, one of said rollers serving to bear against one side of the continuous writing sheet for snubbing'the same and another of said rollers engaging the other side of said continuous writing sheet and being movable substantially transversely of the plane of the writing sheet for tensioning the same, said writing top cooperating with said casing body to provide an aperture through which the writing sheet is a apted to extend, and stop means provided on said writing top for engaging the free end portion of the writing s writing top and between said stop means and said tensioning roller.

In testi nony that I claim the invention set forth above I have hereunto set my hand this llthday of July, 1930.

HOWARD. w. j'LEWIS.

eet to thereby tension said writing sheet over said 

